Village of Sharon president stepping down

SHARON--Village Board President Diana Dykstra announced at a village board meeting Tuesday that she will be stepping down in December.

Dykstra is in middle of her third, two-year term, as president. Before that time, she served as a village trustee for six years.

Dykstra said she wanted to make the announcement early so others could make a decision about running, and resigning at the end of December means the village will not need to hold a separate election. The new village board president will be elected in April as part of general election.

"I wanted to step down because I want to focus on my family and my professional career," Dykstra said.

Dykstra is employed as the administrator-clerk treasurer for the village of Darien.

Darien is working on building a new village hall and trying to find a site for a fire station.

She has three children that are "getting to the age where they need to be taken to practices."

In the past few years, Sharon has worked to brand itself as a cycling community. It developed a cycling series on the rural roads in the area and last summer hosted a professional bicycle race in the community.

"It's been marvelous," Dykstra said. "It needs to be carried forward, and I didn't think that I would have been able to give 100 percent. There are other people who care just as much about the village as I do."